Broadcast Fall 2020 TV Review:

CBS:

B Positive: Drew (played by Thomas Middleditch of Silicon Valley) is a newly divorced therapist and dad who is faced with finding a kidney donor when he runs into Gina, a woman from his past (high school) that he never thought he would see again who volunteers her own kidney. Together, they form an unlikely and life-affirming friendship as they begin a journey that will forever impact both of their lives. 

Verdict: Cancelled. It is a very odd premise that is morbid when it starts off with the main character getting bad news about his health and potential death. The plot kind of keeps into one thing where either he gets the transplant or not, so how long can the show go maybe two years, and also the laugh track is annoying. Middleditch is a good actor but he is not lead material he is odd and quirky more like a supporting actor or good in an ensemble cast like on the show he was just on. Gina played by Annaleigh Ashford is annoying and nothing about her is redeeming, her life is a mess and yes she is supposedly helping Drew but most times I cannot stand her or her voice or her friends. It seems like Chuck Lorre has a lifetime deal with CBS that anytime he makes a show they have to green light it. It makes you laugh a few times here and there but that’s it. His ex-wife who divorced him and his daughter seem like filler to make him not seem like a lonely single guy. The funniest people are the dialysis group and the old people you might recognize, a few of them as character actors from previous works. Also, the intro to the show is so weird with famous composers/painters in a painting that is animated with them performing surgery and singing about “being positive” hence the name of the show. Covid 19 might help it stay on for a full season like the last few new CBS shows that were on this year, since they might not have another sitcom ready yet, but if it wasn’t for Covid19 it might have seen this show get the boot 5 episodes in. 

NBC:

Connecting: Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the series follows the lives of a group of friends that are from all walks of life who try to stay connected via video chat as they navigate through the various nuances of life in a lockdown. 

Verdict: Cancelled. It is what we all need during the quarantine seeing that we are not alone in all the problems we are experiencing during this pandemic. It has clever humor sprinkled into everyone’s problem and they do a good job in introducing every character well. It has made me laugh a few times per episode due to certain characters each portraying a different person during this pandemic. They have two married couples one with kids the other without, a few single people, someone who lost a job, someone living in a bunker and someone who is recently single. One nice touch is they have a friend who they haven’t talked to in awhile who is a nurse on the frontlines of NYC who shares her struggles, so it is sad but is nice they gave frontline workers a shout out. The cast is too diverse to be realistic in a small group of friends plus some are related to each other. They also add a secret love connection between the friends to which is kind of cliché to have one friend like the other but they don’t know. I think it was made last second because of the times of the quarantine and using Zoom to connect with people, but I do not think it will be renewed if this pandemic does end as it will not be relevant. It is just a nice distraction to watch a sitcom with actors we don’t have expectations until the regular shows come back. 

ABC:

Big Sky:  It is based on the series of books by C.J. Box where Private detectives Cassie Dewell(played by Kylie Bunbury of Pitch & When they See us), Cody Hoyt(played by Ryan Phillippe of Cruel Intentions & Shooter) and ex-cop/his ex-wife Jenny Hoyt(Katheryn Winnick of Vikings & Dark Tower) join forces to search for two sisters (one is dating his son) who have been kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway in Montana. When they discover that these are not the only girls who have disappeared in the area, they must race against the clock to stop the killer before another woman is taken. 

Verdict: Cancelled. I usually get attached and like new one hour shows on ABC but usually those shows are good that deserve to be renewed but don’t and this is not even below average.  This show might be a mystery that needs to be solved and you want to see how they solve it but it has not kept my attention and I never read the book, so I don’t know if it’s being told right or wrong. It has a love triangle between a separated couple who both happened to work as cops before and the third is the guy’s partner in private investigating. Their kid has a girlfriend who is driving up with her sister and get taken but if the kid wasn’t dating her would have they stumbled into this trafficking ring/the wife worked on the cold case years ago? I doubt it and it’s too much coincidence plus the secretary’s cousin’s ex husband is the state trooper involved too. I am also disappointed in the biggest actor in the show Phillippe is only in one episode (no spoilers). Also, one of the most underrated character actors in the last twenty years John Carroll Lynch (of Drew Carey show & American Horror story) is playing such a horrible corrupt man I am not enjoying him being on the show even if I am a fan. The other two actresses I know also don’t do much in Bunbury who I am glad has a show after they cancelled Pitch and Natalie Alyn Lind after they also cancelled her show The Gifted. The supposed lead also isn’t that convincing in her role and the other evil person in the show is a 30 something year old man who lives with his mom and sleeps next to her at night so he is weird. I don’t even want to want to see his role in this. Also they have a token LGBT character to throw into this mess which is nice to include everyone but it doesn’t help the plot. I don’t see this show getting renewed since ABC doesn’t have the track record of renewing new one hour dramas or ones that are have multiple genres in it, unless its medical/procedural/family drama show in the last five years or more but those were good shows. If it gets renewed how long can they drag this out? Will it be 10 or more episodes that each episode is a different day/time of the day because time is of the essence to find/save these girls? It probably should have been a limited series because either they die or they save them which is pretty much the only two options. 

CW:

FOX:

Filthy Rich: The Monreauxes are a mega-rich Southern family famed for creating a successful Christian television network. On the cusp of launching a digital retail arm of the company, the family's patriarch, Eugene, dies in a plane crash, leaving his wife, Margaret (played by Kim Cattrall of Sex & the City and Police Academy), to take charge of the family business. It’s no surprise Eugene's apparent death greatly impacts the family, who are stunned to learn that Eugene fathered three illegitimate children, all of whom are written into his will. Margaret now has to figure out a way to control her newly legitimized heirs with her business savvy and Southern charm so that their existence does not threaten the Monreaux family name and fortune since they all want a piece of the fortune. 

Verdict: Cancelled. I get the appeal of people having a prime-time soap opera on the air currently but we already had “Dallas” & “Dynasty” plus their remakes. Most television shows are dramas to begin with but then fit a genre like Sci-Fi or action, so if you want to watch a family drama some with redeeming qualities with good people watch “This is us”. Most sitcoms on TV about families are a mix of drama and comedy so you can get your fill from those shows that teach lessons for the kids and have positive messages. It’s also about a family who advertises that they are religious Christians but then commit so many sins in every episode that I don’t see any redeeming characters except maybe the so called illegitimate kids. I can respect Cattrall as an actress who also produces the show and you want to see how far this show can go with twists and turns like most soap operas, but some are too cliché.  It was supposed to be on in the Spring but because of Covid19 it was pushed to this Fall so that might help it get renewed as most Spring shows have a hard time being renewed, plus it could replace “Empire” as the family-soap-opera-drama on Fox.

Next: Silicon Valley pioneer Paul LeBlanc (played by John Slattery of Mad Men & Iron Man) discovers that one of his own creations, a powerful A.I. called NEXT, might spell doom for humankind, so he tries to shutter the project, only to be kicked out of the company by his own brother. It leaves him with nothing but mounting dread about the fate of the world but when a series of unsettling tech mishaps points to a potential worldwide crisis, LeBlanc joins forces with Special Agent Shea Salazar. The two of them are the only ones standing in the way of a potential global catastrophe, fighting an emergent super intelligence that, instead of launching missiles, will deploy the immense knowledge it has gleaned from the data to recruit allies, turn people against each other and eliminate obstacles to its own survival and growth. 

Verdict: Renewed. I do like the suspense of what is going to happen next. It has you hooked into tuning in every week. It has the makings of a good investigating hybrid show with Sci-Fi. Where you got the law enforcement officer working with someone who isn’t this time, it’s a tech genius who was run out of his company. It is also an interesting way too look at how we have become too reliant on technology. It shows as we keep improving on technology to make it better and better that it will become too good for its own good. That it might become too smart and start controlling everything in life and if you go against it will come after you. I have seen plenty of intro respective looks at this idea in movies and TV shows like I, Robot (Will Smith), Eagle Eye (Shia Labeouf) and the Circle (Emma Watson) and usually they do a good job on it. They are also shows about it helping like in APB (Fox), Wisdom of the Crowd (CBS) and Person of Interest (CBS). The people who build it think it will help everyone but this show is what if it isn’t going to help people in the long run. I do not like the too much drama of the agent’s life, LeBlanc’s daughter and his brother but really his brother is the evil one you need to look into. They will probably give you more insight into her team as the show goes on because so far they are not doing much to help tell the story. The biggest hurdle will be that Fox did not renew APB, Almost Human and Second Chance to name some plus other networks have done the same with some hybrid shows like: Emergence, Limitless, Deception and the In between for example. With Covid19 Fox should renew this show unless it’s supposed to be a short term series and if so call it a mini-series. 

CeeLo Green is Thomas Calloway-Album Review:

 

    CeeLo Green has been in the music industry for more than 20 years where he has done it all in terms of a music career. He has been a part of a rap group called the Goodie Mob, his own solo rap career, his own solo pop career, and his collaboration with Danger Mouse which was the alternative rock group Gnarls Barkley. He has won five Grammy awards, countless other awards and his single “Forget You” from his pop album “The Lady Killer” hit number two. What else could he venture into that shows off his wide range of talents? He already did a Christmas album so the next venture was a solo soul/R&B album that demonstrates his vocals talents and his songwriting ability, as he wrote every song but one on this album.

            Thomas Calloway is his given birth name as he decided to go by to show the world a different side of him with these very emotional, soft spoken and beautiful tracks. It is just another chapter into his wide range of discography with this album and the only real problem with the album is a lot of the songs are hard to differentiate between. This is a great album since none of the songs are bad and it has real music throughout the album.

            The songs that really stick out are “Lead me”, “For you”, “Doing it All together”, “Down with the Sun” and “The Way” as they show off his good vocals in this genre of R&B-Soul and are super catchy. He then has two songs about his daughter in “Little Mama” and “Don’t Lie” about being lucky to have her/proud of her and how he raised her.

            The song where you can tell how emotional he gets is “I wonder how love feels” as he is worried about being hurt and wants to know what real love is with someone. The song he didn’t write “Slow down” is still sung beautifully as well as catchy. While “People Watching“   is catchy too it’s just a weird song. Songs “You gotta do it all” and “Thinking out loud” are also his other super emotional songs.

    This isn’t his best album or even has his best songs ever, but when an album has no bad songs where all of them are catchy, it has real music, shows off his beautiful voice (vocal range) and song writing skills it translates to a very good album. It just shows how versatile of an artist CeeLo Green is as it just adds another chapter to his already accomplished music career and to his diverse discography. 

2020-2021 NFL Season Preview:

North: The Packers are coming off a 13 win season with essentially the same set of key players like QB Aaron Rodgers but he hasn’t been the healthiest/the same QB he has been before and is getting closer to 40. Due to that you would think they would draft-sign a key skill player or improve the defense but instead they drafted QB Jordan Love in the 1^st round by trading up for him and drafted another RB in the 2^nd round despite having Aaron Jones already. 

They still have the best QB-WR-RB combo in the division with Rogers-Jones-Davante Adams that they will still win this division, but they will not go far in the playoffs or win as many games due to not having a good defense or any other WRs but Adams. The Vikings still are that team with a deep talented team with plenty of B players that make them a wild card contender but they have lost some of that depth by losing five key defensive players and trading away WR Stefon Diggs. That puts more pressure on QB Kirk Cousins who outside of one playoff game last year has never stepped up in important games and has to have everything around him be perfect which it will not be.

They also need to incorporate a bunch of rookies to fill the holes they have, but with no training camp/preseason it will again make things harder on Cousins because he then only has two players he can rely on, on offense WR Adam Thielen and RB Dalvin Cook.  Head Coach Mike Zimmer will still have some key defensive players which will be why they are a playoff contending team in LBs Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks, S Harrison Smith and newly acquired DE Yannick Ngakoue to name some. The Bears still have a top defensive unit which players like LBs Khalil Mack, Roquan Smith, DE Akiem Hicks, CB Kyle Fuller, S Eddie Jackson and offseason signing LB Robert Quinn. The thing that will keep them out of the playoffs is their offense with having two QBS which means they have none since Mitchell Trubisky is not a starting QB and Nick Foles who they traded for a draft pick/took on all of his salary, missed most of last year with an injury/wasn’t good when he played.

They could have saved that money for fixing their offensive line which is one of the worst in all of football so whoever is the starter they will have no protection and it will not help them run the ball as well no matter if it is David Montgomery or Tarik Cohen running it. They also could have used that money on helping out WR Allen Robinson because he is the only receiving threat because TE Jimmy Graham hasn’t been good in years. The Lions will again be a last team because their head coach Matt Patricia’s specialty is defense and their defense again will not be great despite signing CB Desmond Trufant and drafting a few standout defensive players because they will not have training camp/preseason to fully integrate them. 

When QB Matthew Stafford was out with an injury for more than half of the season they looked lost without him not winning any games which doesn’t bode well as he ages/can’t stay healthy and is no longer a top 10 QB. They still have good skill players which will keep them in games even if they are down in most of them by having WR Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones Jr, Danny Amendola and RB Kerryon Johnson.

East: The Eagles will again win this division easily due to two teams in a rebuild and three teams with new head coaches. They also fixed their holes at WR by drafting two WRs in the draft and will get DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery back from injuries to add their great TE Zach Ertz on offense led by QB Carson Wentz.

They also now have a backup to plug in if Wentz misses time with them drafting Jalen Hurts in the second round and will use him in offensive packages which will make their offense even better. They also still have a great defense with players like DTs Fletcher Cox, Malik Jackson, S Jalen Mills and offseason acquisitions DT Javon Hargrave and CB Darius Slay. The Cowboys finally fired Jason Garrett and brought in Mike McCarthy to replace him so he can prove Aaron Rodgers wasn’t the only reason behind the Packers previous success and maybe get this offense back on track. They also finally signed QB Dak Prescott to a franchise tag after the whole season-offseason talk of if they will extend him so it will be his make or break year to see if he does get all the money he wants.

Dallas so far has used the money on WR Amari Cooper, RB Ezekiel Elliott and three defensive players instead. They have lost two key defensive players and their center this offseason which will put all the pressure on Prescott to deliver because their strength will be their receiving core of Cooper, Michael Gallup and rookie CeeDee Lamb. When things are perfect for Prescott he seems to not deliver and that will continue this year with things not being perfect. The Giants have a new head coach in Bill Belichick disciple Joe Judge and they hope it works out since most former Patriots coordinators don’t work out, that he has some special magic to help this rebuilding team.

They still have a bad offensive line and a bad defense despite drafting an offensive lineman in the 1^st round and a few defensive players in the draft. DE Leonard Williams is the only good defensive player which means it will be on 2^nd year QB Daniel Jones to lead this team to wins and improve off his rookie season. The offense is their strength due to their great skill players in RB Saquon Barkley, TE Evan Engram, WRs Golden Tate, Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton. Washington also has a new head coach in Ron Rivera who has been a winner everywhere he has been from his days in Chicago as a player/a coach and Carolina as a coach that he will build a nice culture in this rebuild plus help this young defense take that next step but it will be an uphill battle from last place.

They drafted DE Chase Young to add to DE Ryan Kerrigan, LB Jon Bostic and S Landon Collins. It will be a key year for 2^nd year QB Dwayne Haskins as he will get the whole season to prove he belongs in the NFL since last year they used backups instead of him for most of the season, but will be difficult with one of the worst offensive lines. They do have young promising WR in Terry McLaurin but they cut RBS Derrius Guice and future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson, so it seems like they are setting him up to fail and will try again with a new QB for Rivera.

South: The Saints again will be the one of the best teams in football on both sides of the ball and hopefully no miracles passes and no passing interference calls or non passing interference calls should stop them from reaching the conference championship game.

QB Drew Brees has mastered their ball control passing game with one of the best RB-WR combos in all of football in WR Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara plus supporting players RB Latavius Murray, QB Taysom Hill and TE Jared Cook. They also finally gave Brees a second WR to help out Thomas in Emmanuel Sanders and signed QB Jameis Winston to be Bree’s backup. Their defense is still one of the best in the game led by CB Marshon Lattimore, DE Cameron Jordan but added S Malcolm Jenkins this off season and get a full season of CB Janoris Jenkins to fill any holes in the secondary, plus drafted an offensive linemen to compliment what is already a top five offensive line. The Buccaneers had a QB throw 30+ TD passes but threw 30+ interceptions for a team with an up and coming young defense under the tutelage of Todd Bowles plus have an offensive line that could be top 10. That team finished tied for second place at 7-9, imagine if they had a QB who has mastered the position to a science where all he needed were good skills players-enter QB 43 year old Tom Brady.

He will get the skill players he has missed the past few seasons in WRs Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, TEs OJ Howard, Cameron Brate, Rob Gronkowski out of retirement, RBs Ronald Jones, LeSean McCoy and Leonard Fournette.  It will be a fun year in Tampa Bay for Brady and Bruce Arians cooking up so many kinds of way to score with all of the skill players they have, so see them in the wild card round. The Falcons saved HC Dan Quinn’s job by going 6-2 to end the season but everything on defense had to click perfectly and there is no guarantee that will be the same since they again will rely again on young unproven players. Most of their draft was heavy on defensive players and with no training camp/preseason there will not be time for Quinn to work with all of them, so look for another season of QB Matt Ryan trying to carry the load.

Ryan was running for his life last year due to having one of the worst offensive lines in all of football which also affected the running game as they said goodbye to longtime RB Devonta Freeman and welcomed in another injury prone in RB Todd Gurley. They still have good WRs in Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley but lost their starting TE Austin Hooper to Cleveland. This will probably be Quinn’s last year as head coach as they will be on the outside looking in again. The Panthers are in a rebuild with a new head coach in former college HC Matt Rhule who will be without former MVP QB Cam Newton and future Hall of Famer LB Luke Kuechly, but he will have QB Teddy Bridgewater and RB Christian McCaffrey to lead the offense.

The question will be how good this young and unproven defense mostly drafted in this year’s draft beside LB Shaq Thompson help support the offense so McCaffery doesn’t have to do it all by himself to score. The hope is Rhule can craft a system for Bridgewater that puts all of the undersized WRs in a position to succeed and newly signed WR Robby Anderson, if not it will be a long year and maybe they get a high draft pick for a franchise QB in the draft next year.

West: The 49ers will once again be one of the best teams in all of football and will be back in the conference championship game due to being good on both sides of the ball. QB Jimmy Garoppolo should be sharper two seasons removed from his ACL surgery, they get back RB Jerick McKinnon from injury, still have other RBs Tevin Coleman, Raheem Mostert, FB Kyle Juszczyk, one of the best TEs in George Kittle, WR Deebo Samuel, drafted a WR in 1^st round to replace Emmanuel Sanders, and signed Jordan Reed to be the backup TE.

Their defense is still led by CB Richard Sherman, DE Nick Bosa in his second season and drafted a DT in the 1^st round to replace Deforest Buckner. The offensive line is still top 10 in football and they still have Robbie Gould kicking for them. The Seahawks will always be a playoff contender because of one man who wills his team to victory by running the ball or throwing a clutch TD pass from behind in a game, and that is QB Russell Wilson.

They might have gone further in the playoffs if they didn’t lose all of their RBs at the end of the season, so getting Chris Carson back healthy and bringing in Carlos Hyde will help out Wilson. They also drafted an offensive lineman to help one of the worst lines and signing TE Greg Olsen helps out both the offensive line and the receiving game as he can be a good short pass option for Wilson. Their defense is still led by LBs Bobby Wagner, KJ Wright, CB Shaquill Griffin and they brought in S Jamal Adams plus brought back LB Bruce Irvin. The Rams no longer have RB Todd Gurley, WR Brandin Cooks, LB Clay Matthews, DE Dante Fowler, K Greg Zuerlein and S Eric Weddle to name some plus their defense coordinator Wade Phillips. It will be another tough season of not making the playoffs for QB Jared Goff and HC Sean McVay as they will have to overcome a bad offensive line, a rookie RB and a bad defensive unit as a whole.

Despite having DE Aaron Donald, CB Jalen Ramsey and LB Leonard Floyd the defense will be a work in progress as it’s in a rebuild with a new coordinator and unproven players coming in. Unless Goff and McVay find that magic they had a few seasons ago with their receiving core of Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods they could finish in last place. The Cardinals will be in year two of HC Kliff Kingsbury and QB Kyler Murray the reigning rookie of the year, so look for them to take more steps forward as a team especially since they added a top WR in DeAndre Hopkins to give them a #1 WR.  

They already had a good receiving core of Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk so now it will be even better plus they resigned Kenyan Drake who was unbelievable late last year. The real question will be how much of any improvement the defense will be after ranking dead last this past season even with LB Chandler Jones, CB Patrick Peterson and their 1^st round pick leading them, leaving Murray to have to play from behind every game. Also, their offensive line is one of the worst in football as well so the same question goes for it as well.  If everything clicks it will not be a surprise to see them contending for a wild card spot.

North: The Ravens have a chance to have the best record in football and be in the Super Bowl this year because they are one of the most well rounded teams in all of football as they are good at all three aspects of football. They have QB Lamar Jackson coming off an MVP season but will only get better because he is only 23, so the sky's the limit. He has a top 5 offensive line, a good set of skill players in RB Mark Ingram, TE Mark Andrews, WRs Marquis Brown and Willie Sneed to name some including their second round pick.

Their defense is also one of the best in football which is led by CB Marlon Humphrey, CB Marcus Peters, new editions DEs Derek Wolfe and Calais Campbell, plus their 1^st round pick. Justin Tucker is one of the best kickers in all of football and their coaching staff which is led by John Harbaugh, one of the best coaches in football with a great offensive mind in OC Greg Roman making the perfect offense for Jackson. The Steelers get QB Ben Roethlisberger back from injury which will help them as they finished 8-8 just out of the playoffs because they went through three QBs and their defense was keeping them in games. Their defense is led by DE Cameron Heyward, LB TJ Watt, CB Joe Haden and S Minkah Fitzpatrick to name a few and still have one of the best coaches in football in Mike Tomlin who is one of the best leaders in the coaching ranks.

It also helps Roethlisberger out besides from the good defense he has a good offensive line led by C Mauire Pouncey and has good skill players in WR JuJu Smith Schuster, RB James Conner and TEs Vance McDonald and Eric Ebron. They might sneak up on teams that are counting them out because of the QB’s age and injury history but they will be a wild card contending team. The Browns had all the hype last year after all the moves they made and guess what, it did not happen as they missed the playoffs again. They now have a HC in Kevin Stefanski who will hold QB Baker Mayfield accountable when he makes mistakes on the field or his off the field actions are questionable, plus they brought in journeymen QB Case Keenum as motivation that he can take his job. Their offensive line had issues last year so they drafted an OT and signed one to fix that hole, drafted some more defensive players and signed TE Austin Hooper. It gives Mayfield all the things he needs to succeed because he already has a good set of skill players in WRs Odell Beckham JR, Jarvis Landry, TE David Njoku, RBs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.

The defense also still has DEs Myles Garrett, Olivier Vernon, DT Sheldon Richardson and CB Denzel Ward to lead this unit. They will complete for a wild card spot this year and if not it might be the end of Mayfield in Cleveland. The Bengals are in a full scale rebuild mode with a rookie QB in Joe Burrows and a 2^nd year HC in Zac Taylor. As we all know that it will not matter how many wins they get it but it will be about setting a foundation for the future in developing a winning culture.

They also get back WR AJ Green from injury which helps a rookie QB knowing he has an All-Pro guy to throw to and they still have Tyler Boyd, John Ross III and a their 2^nd round pick to throw it too. RB Joe Mixon will also hopefully be healthy for a full a season to relieve pressure on Burrow too since they have one of the worst offensive lines and one of the worst defenses too.

East: The Bills will win this division because QB Josh Allen will take those next steps into becoming a QB you can rely on to win you games and now they finally got him a real WR in deep threat Stefon Diggs, who will work great with him as he has one of the best arms in all of football.

That pushes WRs John Brown, Cole Beasley and Andre Roberts in supporting roles and will help RB Devin Singletary not have to be the main component of the offense.  Their defense again will lead them to the playoffs as they still have S Micah Hyde, CB Tre’Davious White and LB Tremaine Edmunds leading this talented unit. The Patriots said goodbye to QB Tom Brady, LBs Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins, WR Tony Dorsett and kicker Stephen Gostkowski to name some. They also have a good amount of players opting out due to Covid19 like S Patrick Chung and without training camp/offseason any rookies they drafted as they did draft a few defensive players, a few TEs and few offensive linemen, it will be hard to integrate them. They also have to implement a new system or help QB Cam Newton fit their system and even then he hasn’t been healthy/the same player in years, plus the lack of training camp/off season doesn’t help them out either.

Outside of WR Julian Edelman they don’t have anybody for Newton to throw to. It will be a playoff less year for Bill Belichick despite defense being his specialty because it’s going to be hard to overcome all of the departures/opt outs even if you still have S Devin McCourty and CB Stephon Gilmore leading the defense. When QB Sam Darnold did not play last year the Jets looked lost and even when he did it was no guarantee they would win games but they won 7 games despite locker room drama, a bad offensive line and a bad defense.

Gone is Jamal Adams so their defense will again be bad and even though they drafted a few offensive linemen it will not fix the whole line being bad. RB Le’Veon Bell showed he wasn’t the same RB he was before he sat out so they drafted a RB and brought in Frank Gore to put pressure on him to succeed. They lost WR Robby Anderson in free agency so they had to draft one but even then it’s a weak receiving core if Jamison Crowder is your #1. If they do not have a good season it might mean the end of HC Adam Gase because of how well the Jets looked by just having Darnold under center. The Dolphins rebuild set the world into a panic about what they were doing and guess what, they played their butts off in every game and looked much better in the second half. They used all of the draft picks they assembled on protecting their young QB of the future in Tua Tagovailoa on four offensive linemen and added to their young defense.

The specialty of HC Brian Flores is defense which is what he was building last year with CB Xavien Howard and the rest of the young players, so adding more young defensive players help out his plan. They also added CB Byron Jones and LB Kyle Van Noy so they have impact makers on defense. On offense they brought in RBs Jordan Howard, Matt Breida to help Tagovailoa as their offensive line will be a work in progress even with them adding veteran G Ereck Flowers.

South: The Colts have the best offensive line in football, an improving defense led by LB Darius Leonard, a good set of skill players and one of the better coaches in football. They had everything finally in place for QB Andrew Luck but he abruptly retired last year and QB Jacoby Brissett did everything he could but he has a ceiling. Enter veteran gun slinging QB Philip Rivers who worked with Frank Reich for three years so they are going all in with this team. 

They also traded then signed to an extension for DeForest Buckner to pair with Justin Houston on the defensive line and they drafted two WRs and a RB to give Rivers even more weapons that include WR TY Hilton, TE Jack Doyle and RB Marlon Mack already. They have the best all around team in this division and if it doesn’t work out they already drafted a QB in this year’s draft in Jacob Eason. The Texans still have one of the best QBs in Deshaun Watson who can lead a team to the playoffs himself but they traded away his #1 receiver in Deandre Hopkins so how much help is he really getting here? They traded away another draft pick to get injury prone WR Brandin Cooks, signed Randall Cobb, acquired both RBs in trades Duke Johnson last year and David Johnson last year in the Hopkins deal.

That does not bode that much confidence in the skill players if Will Fuller is your best WR when he is also never healthy and their defense hasn’t been as good as it used to be since DE JJ Watt and LB Whitney Mercilus never stay healthy either.  The owner needs to evaluate why he made his head coach the GM too, it doesn’t seem to be working out as they don’t have enough draft picks to improve this team going further as they will be missing the playoffs this year. The Titans surprised everyone by getting to the AFC championship team with QB Ryan Tannehill coming in to replace Marcus Mariota mid season and stayed healthy where he had the best seasons of his career.

RB Derrick Henry was sensational last year where he was the real reason they had success. Teams were afraid of him getting yards so it allowed Tannehill time to complete passes downhill to WRs AJ Brown, Corey Davis and Adam Humphries. Their defense also was a reason they got far in the playoffs as it still has S Kenny Vaccaro, CB Malcolm Butler leading them and added LBs Vic Beasley and Jadeveon Clowney this offseason. Interestingly they signed former Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski to fix their kicking woes. The Jaguars are trying to be bad as they traded away CB Jalen Ramsey at the trade deadline last year; traded DE Yannick Ngakoue recently, cut RB Leonard Fournette and let CB AJ Bouye leave in free agency.

They are vying for the one of those two coveted QBs in next year’s draft in Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields so they will be lucky to win more than three games as they drafted twelve players this year, so look for some bad games and Doug Marrone to be fired.

West: The reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs will again be in the conference championship game this year because their QB Patrick Mahomes is only 24 years old where he can only get better and they still have the same core they had last year.

Their set of skill players is one of the best in the league in TE Travis Kelce, WRs Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson and they drafted a RB in the 1^st round. The defense which was an issue for most of the season till it clicked towards the second half through the playoffs is still led by DT Chris Jones, DE Frank Clark and S Tyrann Mathieu, but that will be their only weakness mostly the secondary. The Broncos are the only real team with an upside that could challenge for the playoffs due to their defense, skill players and QB Drew Lock looking good at the end of the season. John Elway drafted Lock three WRs like Jerry Jeudy and signed RB Melvin Gordon to add their core of WR Courtland Sutton, TE Noah Fant, RBs Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman. They also drafted a center and signed another offensive lineman to protect him plus signed CB AJ Bouye to add to the defense.

That defense still has LBs Von Miller and Bradley Chubb leading the defense so everything is in place for Lock and they got him a good offensive mind in Pat Shurmur to be his OC as HC Vic Fangio can just focus on defense. Don’t be surprised if they make the playoffs as a wild card team. The Chargers said goodbye to long time QB Philip Rivers, RB Melvin Gordon and two of their key players are out for the season in WR Mike Williams and S Derwin James. The best case scenario is QB Tyrod Taylor who worked under HC Anthony Lynn before has all the pieces around him so he can finally succeed and the make the playoffs as they have the skill players and the defense to do it.

They still have a top WR in Keenan Allen, RB Austin Ekler, TE Hunter Henry and they drafted a few skill players too. The defense is still led by DEs Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, CBs Chris Harris, Casey Hayward and brought in DT Linval Joseph as well. If things do not go well like not making the playoffs they hope their 1^st round pick QB Justin Herbert the 6^th overall pick is their franchise QB going forward. The Raiders are in Las Vegas for their first season where it will be the key year for QB Derek Carr to see if in the new city if HC Jon Gruden will move on from him and draft a QB or even sign another QB in the offseason.

The offensive line improved to be close to a top 10 unit and they have good skill players in WRs Hunter Renfrow, 1^st round pick Henry Ruggs, Nelson Agholor, they also drafted two other receivers, TE Darren Waller and RB Josh Jacobs. The thing that might hurt Carr is his #1 WR Tyrell Williams is out for the year and that his defense is still bad so he will be playing from a deficit all season. We might see QB Marcus Mariota take his job at some point this season if everything goes wrong. 

 

2020 MLB Preview:

AL Central: 

The Twins will again win this division behind the strength of their power hitting offense that hit 309 home runs last year, even after the loss of two 20-home run hitters. 

They added 3B Josh Donaldson to shore up their infield defense but also to plug into the middle of the order with his 37 home runs he had last year between DH Nelson Cruz and Miguel Sano. They did not do much to help out Jose Berrios in that rotation besides acquiring a few aging veterans like Homer Bailey, Rich Hill, Michael Pineda, Jhoulys Chacin, and Kenta Maeda. 

They only got lucky Jake Odorizzi took the qualifying offer and they resigned Sergio Romo for the bullpen, but again their pitching staff is what is going to hold them back from advancing in the playoffs. This is where they will lose to the Yankees once again.

The Indians again have gotten worse by shedding more talent off their roster by trading Corey Kluber away, letting Danny Salazar, Jason Kipnis, Yasiel Puig, Cody Anderson and Dan Otero leave in free agency. Their two best starters are not healthy in Mike Clevenger and Carlos Carrasco. 

They have question marks at many positions like second base and the outfield. If this team can stay healthy they can compete for a wild card spot because of their core on offense in SS Francisco Lindor, 1B Carlos Santana, 3B Jose Ramirez, and their rotation. If things do not work out for them they will look to trade Lindor who was on the trade block all off season. 

The White Sox did many things this offseason to spark buzz around them being a playoff contender which is what their ceiling is if the starting rotation lives up to its potential. Lucas Giolito broke out last year, they added Dallas Keuchel and Gio Gonzalez plus they get back Carlos Rodon. That can be a dynamic rotation with either Dylan Cease or Reynaldo Lopez being your fifth starter. 

They also added to their offense which has been their issue for a while by adding DH Edwin Encarnacion, C Yasmani Grandal and RF Nomar Mazara to their lineup, plus get a full season of LF Eloy Jimenez. They already had the AL batting champ in SS Tim Anderson, the AL RBI champ in 1B Jose Abreu, and 3B Yoan Moncada who broke out last year. 

This might be one of the best lineups in baseball and that is without even adding two of the best prospects in baseball who can be dynamic as well in CF Luis Roberts and 2B Nick Madrigal. What will hold them back is the bullpen, the rotation being inconsistent/healthy as many have had TJ surgeries in their histories, and the incompetence of manager Rick Renteria not knowing what to do with a stacked lineup. 

The Royals again will be a bad team in rebuild mode so expect another season close to 100 games lost due to having a bad pitching staff as a whole. Their best pitcher Danny Duffy has been unable to stay healthy the past few seasons and they have no real bullpen. 

The only promising things on this team is them getting C Salvador Perez back for a full season, the improvements they got from INF Hunter Dozier , SS Adalberto Mondesi, and OF Jorge Soler. They again will play one of their best players out of position in Whit Merrifield and now Dozier both in the outfield with an aging LF Alex Gordon who they brought back. Look for them to be the worst defensive outfield in baseball. 

The Tigers again will be a last place team that will lose over a 100 games as they are also in full rebuild mode. They made some moves to distract their fans from a bad season by signing 2B Jonathan Schoop and 1B CJ Cron from the Twins who are both 20 home run hitters to fill the massive holes they had on the right side. They also brought back SS Jordy Mercer, signed Austin Romine to compete for the starting catching job, OF Cameron Maybin and SP Ivan Nova. 

Nova will pitch some innings to help this team that has had a bad bullpen and an unhealthy rotation the past few seasons due to Jordan Zimmerman, Michael Fulmer and Daniel Norris missing time. The only bright spot will be the continued improvement of SP Matthew Boyd, and the fans will still have future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera for another six years who is only 23 homeruns away from the 500 home run club, and 185 hits away from 3000 hits. 

AL East: 

The Yankees again will power themselves to the playoffs again behind the offense that hit 306 home runs last year because of SS Gleyber Torres, C Gary Sanchez, 1B Luke Voit, 3B Miguel Andujar, 2B DJ LeMahieu, outfielders Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. 

They still have one of the best bullpens in baseball to shorten games for their pitching staff with Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, Adam Ottavino and Tommy Kahnle to throw at you. That will help their weak rotation that lost Luis Severino for the season again to TJ surgery, CC Sabathia to retirement, Domingo German to suspension, and James Paxton to back surgery. They did sign the best pitcher on the market in Gerrit Cole but even he can’t make up for all these injuries especially because of the injury history of JA Happ and Masahiro Tanaka. You have to give credit to Aaron Boone who guided them to over 100 wins last year despite all of the injuries they had last year, so if their rotation and starting outfield miss time again he will be able to guide this team back to the playoffs.  

The Rays have won 90+ games back to back years but this year might be the year they will go further in the playoffs due to the strength of their rotation and their organizational depth. They made changes to their outfield depth by swapping right fielders this offseason by trading Tommy Pham for Hunter Renfroe, got two outfielders from the Cardinals including Jose Martinez, made a separate trade for another Padres outfielder in Manuel Margot, and signed Japanese All-Star outfielder Yoshitomo Tsutsugo to pair with Kevin Kiermaier and Austin Meadows. 

They still have one of the deepest pitching staffs that run nine starters deep led by Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow (whom both missed time to due to injuries last year) and Charlie Morton. While their bullpen is unnamed you will learn their names this season as it is led by young flamethrowers Jose Alvarado and Diego Castillo. Besides from having a deep outfield/DH rotation their infield is also deep in having guys who can play all over the infield like with both Lowe brothers (Nate & Brandon), Yandy Diaz, Joey Wendle and their young staring shortstop Willy Adames. 

The Red Sox again will be a competitive team that comes up short for the playoffs because they again shed more talent from their team like last year. They traded Mookie Betts, David Price away, let Brock Holt, Rick Porcello and Andrew Cashner leave in free agency and have lost Chris Sale for the season due to TJ surgery. Their rotation was very thin before the Sale news because Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi and their offseason signings of Martin Perez and Collin McHugh have all battled injuries in their careers or TJ surgeries. Normally you would rely on your bullpen if your rotation is thin/fragile but again they did nothing to fix their bullpen and again will go without a real closer/any depth in their bullpen. 

They still have a good enough offense even without Betts as they will win games because they still have DH JD Martinez, SS Xander Bogaerts, 3B Rafael Devers, and LF Andrew Benintendi. They hope that getting OF Alex Verdugo , OF Kevin Pillar and 2B Jose Peraza will fill the holes in RF and 2B as well. Ron Roenicke is getting a raw deal as interim-manager this season even though has been a manager before because this team isn’t as good as it used to be.

The Blue Jays will not lose almost 100 games again because they actually have a pitching staff that you have heard of to start the season by them acquiring Tanner Roark, Chase Anderson, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and resigning Matt Shoemaker as they traded all of their good starters last year. 

Their young talent will only get better as some are in their second seasons like infielders Vlad Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, Rowdy Tellez, C Danny Jansen, and other young players like Lourdes Gurriel Jr and Teoscar Hernandez. They do have a log jam in the infield which pushes Brandon Drury to the bench but that is why they let Freddy Galvis, Devon Travis, Justin Smoak and Richard Urena leave the team, but then they signed Travis Shaw to play 1B which only compounds the issue. That is why Gurriel Jr is in the outfield despite being a shortstop by trade but their outfield is also logged jam with four other outfielders who aren’t Randal Grichuk, who is the only guaranteed outfielder to play every day. They still have one of the best closers in Ken Giles who everyone was surprised that he wasn’t traded last deadline or this offseason but since they will not be a playoff team but look for him and other veterans to be offloaded to help this rebuild.

The Orioles will again be one of the worst teams in baseball that will lose over 100 games due their lack of a pitching staff as a whole and many holes in their lineup too. They traded their only good starter in Dylan Bundy in the offseason and only added rejected starters in Wade LeBlanc, Tommy Milone to name some to their rotation of Alex Cobb and John Means, plus they have no bullpen outside of Mychal Givens who had an ERA of 4.50 last year which isn’t encouraging. 

They still are planning on playing their best player Trey Mancini in RF again despite his being a 1B who was only playing LF before last year due to having Mark Trumbo and Chris Davis on the roster, but Trumbo last year missed the season and is no longer on the team.. They have five natural born outfielders on their roster with three capable of playing centerfield and Anthony Santander showing promise who should be in RF as it is his natural position. They also have no set starting 3B, DH, or 2B but at least they took the SS position seriously as they signed Jose Iglesias when last year they have five guys lineup there. They are also wasting their time with career back catcher Pedro Severino instead of letting their young guys in Austin Wynns or Chance Sisco play. 

AL West: 

The cheating scandal, losing Gerrit Cole, Will Harris, Colin McHugh, Hector Rondon, Robinson Chirinos, Jake Marisnick, their manager and general manager but those things will not stop the Astros from being the best team in the AL/one of the most talented teams in all of baseball. They still have Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, and the return of Lance McCullers from TJ surgery in their rotation and still have a good bullpen with Roberto Osuna, Ryan Pressly and Chris Devenski. 

The real thing that will carry them during the regular season will be their offense that still has 3B Alex Bregman, SS Carlos Correa, 2B Jose Altuve, 1B Yuli Gurriel, DH Yordan Alvarez, outfielders Josh Reddick, Michael Brantley and George Springer. They also retained Martin Maldonado who is a former gold glove catcher which will help the uncertainty in the back end of the rotation. They will be in the World Series again and have a good chance to win it again which might put that cheating scandal behind if they do it “cleanly”, which would give their new manager Dusty Baker his first World Series championship. 

 The Athletics again will be a wild card team due to their lineup that centers around their infield of Marcus Semien, Matt Olson and Matt Chapman. They also are going all in on their prospects at 2B and catcher after they ended the season with Sean Murphy as their starter at catcher while trading away Jurickson Profar after a failed season, and will go with Franklin Barreto which is what they should have done last year. They also are giving 1B  Mark Canha the starting left field job after the dumb idea for seasons of him playing center field because of injury to get his bat in the lineup and playing others who cannot hit. 

Their bullpen is also a strength with Liam Hendricks, Joakim Soria, Jake Diekman, TJ McFarland and Yusmeiro Petit which will help their weak rotation. Most of their rotation has battled injuries or TJ surgeries in Sean Manaea, Jesus Lazardo, AJ Puk, Daniel Gossett and Frankie Montas, plus Mike Fiers is no ace. The reason it didn’t hurt them last year when not having a good rotation/healthy was because of their offense. It was also their GM making trades for starters that was holding them back from advancing past the wild card round every year.

The Rangers actually fixed their rotation this offseason which will make them wild card contenders because they traded for Corey Kluber, signed Jordan Lyles and Kyle Gibson to pair with the other starters they got the previous years in Lance Lynn and Mike Minor. Their bullpen is also starting to take form around young closer Jose Leclerc with an encouraging season from Rafael Montero last year, them bringing back Jesse Chavez last year and they signed former closer Cody Allen and Juan Nicasio to minor league deals. 

Their offense will not have to carry them this year like last year because of their improved pitching staff but they still have Joey Gallo, Rougned Odor, Shin-Soo Choo, brought in Todd Frazier and brought Robinson Chirinos back. With Delino DeShields and Nomar Mazara traded away it will give Willie Calhoun a full time job but I don’t get the Danny Santana in CF instead of trying Calhoun in CF for his bat. The hope is also no more Gallo in CF with him being the RF, but Choo is the actual natural born outfielder so I would swap or rotate them. They hope that the signings of Sam Travis, Greg Bird and Blake Swihart to minor league deals will push 1B Ronald Guzman, who has not lived up to his potential. 

The Angels did it again, they signed the best position player on the market instead of signing the best pitcher or one of the best as they signed 3B Anthony Rendon for seven years to slide into the lineup between CF Mike Trout, DH Shohei Ohtani and 1B Albert Pujols. They did have a hole at 3B because of their playing Zack Cozart out of position the past few seasons where he missed most of that time. They technically had a hole there but their offense isn’t the issue even after they let RF Kole Calhoun leave in free agency. They have contingency plans in having a top prospect in Joe Adell ready to take over in RF plus have David Fletcher/Luis Rengifo who could have played 3B. 

Their thin rotation is what held them back last year due to Matt Harvey, Trevor Cahill not working out, Otani being out  for the year due to TJ surgery and they tragically lost Tyler Skaggs leaving them with only Andrew Heaney. They basically used the bargain bin for acquiring Julio Teheran, Matt Andriese and Dylan Bundy for their rotation, but did nothing to help the bullpen which is what will hold them back again this year. They did improve their catching situation though after cycling through five catchers last year, they signed a steady veteran in Jason Castro. 

The Mariners are again going to be a last place team in rebuild mode but this time they actually know it heading into the season unlike last year where they it took them most of the season to realize it. They do not have an excess of veterans to unload that have no place on the roster like last year except Dee Gordon, so they are actually going to give some of their young players the chance to play. SS JP Crawford, 1B Evan White, 2B Shed Long, outfielders Kyle Lewis and Jake Farley will get a full season's worth of at bats around DH Daniel Vogelbach, CF Mallex Smith, RF Mitch Haniger when he is healthy, and 3B Kyle Seager. 

Their pitching staff again will not be something they can rely on as they used the bargain bin on getting Taijuan Walker, Kendall Graveman, Carl Edwards Jr, and Yoshihisa Hirano to fill holes. Their best pitcher might be Justus Sheffield one of their best pitching prospect but he had an almost six ERA last year which does not bode well but they need to let their young starters pitch instead of the rejects. 

NL Central: 

The Brewers again will be in hunt for the division due to having OF Christian Yelich who could have won the MVP again before he got hurt last year and the rest of their lineup that stills has CF Lorenzo Cain, OF Ryan Braun, 2B Keston Hiura and SS Orlando Arcia. They also added 1B Justin Smoak, OF Avi Garcia, utility players Brock Holt, Eric Sogard, Jedd Gyorko and youngster Luis Urias. The issue though will be how to rotate these players throughout a season when all deserve regular playing time. 

The thing that will hold them back will be their starting rotation because they traded away Zach Davies, Chase Anderson, let Gio Gonzalez, Junior Guerra and Jordan Lyles leave in free agency this offseason. All they did was bring in veteran Brett Anderson, signed Josh Lindblom who was overseas for three seasons after failing over here, and got Eric Lauer as a throw in to pair with Brandon Woodruff and other in-house candidates. The bullpen will have to carry the load which you do not want after Corey Knebel missed all of last year and you do not want to overwork Josh Hader too. Usually having a good catcher on defense/on the receiving end would help this bad rotation but they lost Yasmani Grandal to free agency and didn’t get a good catcher to replace him. 

The Cardinals will again be fighting for that division due to their finally having their rotation fully in place with Carlos Martinez back healthy to help lead this rotation with Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas and Adam Wainwright. Their bullpen will be their weakness as Andrew Miller has not been healthy his whole time in St Louis, same for Brett Cecil and Jordan Hicks had TJ surgery last year, so they will end up having to make some moves to bolster that at the deadline. 

Their offense had to carry them the past few seasons but shouldn’t feel they need to carry the load this year even with the loss of outfielders Jose Martinez and Marcell Ozuna, they still have enough offense. They have a good core centered around 1B Paul Goldschmidt, 3B Matt Carpenter, C Yadier Molina and SS Paul DeJong leading the offense, plus they can give OF Tyler O’Neil a full chance to show what he can do offensively. 

The Cubs will still be competitive enough to compete for a playoff spot due to their offense that will carry them again as they still have 3B Kris Bryant, SS Javy Baez, 1B Anthony Rizzo, OF Kyle Schwarber and C Willson Contreras. The issue is they still do not have an answer at 2B or in CF as they will again “try” Ian Happ and Albert Almora in those spots before they turn to veterans Jason Kipnis and Steven Souza. 

They lost Cole Hamels, Pedro Strop, Brandon Kintzler and Steve Cishek to their pitching staff but did not do anything to replace Hamels, they will just go back to Tyler Chatwood which is not good. They do at least have a real closer to start the season unlike last year before they locked up Craig Kimbrel and brought in Jeremy Jeffress and Ryan Tepera, so they at least tried to fill the holes in the bullpen. 

The Reds again will be improved like last year but will still finish in fourth place because they are still not as good as the other three teams ahead of them even if they made improvements to every aspect of the roster. They added Wade Miley to the rotation that will get a full season of Trevor Bauer to pair with Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray and Anthony DeSclafani. They also added Pedro Strop, Tyler Thornburg and Nate Jones to an already good bullpen that had a three headed monster in Michael Lorenzen, Amir Garrett and closer Raisel Iglesias. 

The issue will be that they did add to their offense by signing Mike Moustakas to play 2B but he is not a second basemen and signed Nick Castellanos to play RF despite him not being an outfielder to pair with 3B Eugenio Suarez and 1B Joey Votto. The issue is that it blocks Nick Senzel from moving back to 2B because he is not an outfielder let alone a center fielder, also blocks RF Aristides Aquino who hit 19 homeruns in a short time last year and Japanese All-Star outfielder Shogo Akiyama. Sometimes making additions to improve your offense might come back to hurt you in the future not to mention they will be one of the worst defensive teams in all of baseball.

The Pirates again will be a last place who should be trying a full scale rebuild as they already traded their best player in CF Starling Marte and let outfielders Melky Cabrera and Corey Dickerson go in free agency. They do still have a log jam in the middle infield by having Kevin Kramer, Kevin Newman, Erik Gonzalez, Adam Frazier, Jose Ozuna, Cole Tucker and now JT Riddle who all could start for this team, plus their incumbent third basemen Colin Moran. They should have traded Moran so it would open a spot in the infield but someone will have to get time in the outfield which would cut into Bryan Reynolds playing time. If RF Gregory Polanco can stay healthy they could unload him for prospects and open up for playing time. 

They cannot trade their best pitcher because they waited till August to have Jameson Taillon get TJ surgery right so he is out for the year. Their rotation has enough starters to last the season but none that stick out besides Joe Musgrove and their closer Keone Kela. They filled the CF hole with Jarrod Dyson and Guillermo Heredia but they did nothing to solve the hole at catcher. 

NL East: 

The Braves will again with this division because they are bringing back mostly the same team they had last year that made them a division winner expect for a few changes. Out is 3B Josh Donaldson, C Brian McCann who retired, OF Billy Hamilton, rotation stalwart Julio Teheran and SP Dallas Keuchel. In is LF Marcell Ozuna to replace Donaldson in the lineup, C Travis d’Arnaud, starter Cole Hamels. They get back CF Ender Inciarte to solidify the outfield defense and top of the order so OF Ronald Acuna can bat in the middle of the lineup between 1B Freddie Freeman and 2B Ozzie Albies/play RF, but they have to see who will be at 3B between youngsters Austin Riley or backup Johan Camargo. 

Their pitching staff will again be a strength behind youngsters Mike Soroka and Max Freid who excelled in their first full seasons. They hope Mike Foltynewicz will be back to his 2018 play plus the veterans they got and their bullpen, which will have all of their best relievers for a full season in Mark Melancon, Will Smith, Chris Martin and Shane Greene. 

The Nationals did win the World Series last year without Bryce Harper but they again lost their best position player to free agency in Anthony Rendon, but do not count them out for the playoffs again. They still have one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball with Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg who decided to stay long term, Patrick Corbin, Anibal Sanchez, plus their bullpen still has Sean Doolittle, Daniel Hudson and they added Will Harris. 

 

They also let 2B Brian Dozier, OF Gerardo Parra and 1B Matt Adams leave but they brought in INF Starlin Castro, 1B-OF Eric Thames, resigned infielders Howie Kendrick, Asdrubal Cabrera and C Yan Gomes to solidify the team around OFers Juan Soto, Victor Robles, Adam Eaton and SS Trea Turner. The question real will be who physically replaces Rendon at 3B will it be Cabrera/Kendrick combo or can rookie SS Carter Kieboom take the starting role over and not look back?

The Mets will again be in the hunt for the playoffs due to their rotation being deep after they signed Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha to fill the back end that is still led by Jacob DeGrom,Steven Matz and Marcus Stroman. Their bullpen should be a strength not a weakness like last year because Edwin Diaz and Jeurys Familia have had a track record of being good before last year, plus they brought in Dellin Betances to pair with Justin Wilson and Brad Brach to set up. 

OF Yoenis Cespedes and INF Jed Lowrie who didn’t play a single game say they will play this year but they are set again if they don’t because of the emergence of infielders Jeff McNeil and JD Davis, plus get a full season from OF Brandon Nimmo. Their lineup didn’t miss them either because it still has 2B Robinson Cano, RF Michael Conforto and the reigning NL Rookie of the Year in 1B Pete Alonso. It will be a tough task for rookie manager Luis Rojas despite his experience in the minors to figure out who is the final five starter is and to shuffle this lineup so everyone gets the right amount of playing time.  

The Phillies have had two disappointing ends to a season that should have ended with the playoffs but this year they should be better because they improved their rotation by signing Zack Wheeler. He will slide right in between Aaron Nola and a healthy Jake Arrieta which bumps Vince Velasquez and Zach Eflin to back end starters and signed a few veterans to compete for bullpen in Francisco Liriano, Anthony Swarzak, to support David Robertson and Tommy Hunter who weren’t healthy last year. 

They added SS Didi Gregorius when they already had two shortstops in Scott Kingrey and Jean Segura but they will fill the other infield spots left open by Maikel Franco and César Hernandez who were let go. An issue will be their outfield alignment because when multiple outfielders got hurt last year like Andrew McCutchen they went out and got Jay Bruce who is limited to corner outfield but Bryce Harper is in RF/Rhys Hoskins is at 1B so it looks like McCutchen will still have to play CF. It will help new manager Joe Girardi that he has the best catcher in the NL in JT Realmuto to handle this staff. 

The Marlins will again be in last place and a team that should be rebuilding by playing their young players/prospects but again only care about having names on the field. They brought in 1B Jesus Aguilar, outfielders Corey Dickerson and Matt Joyce plus they plan on using SS Jonathan Villar in CF or 2B/3B instead of letting the many young outfielders they have and youngsters Brian Anderson and Isan Diaz play every day. They let JT Riddle go and plan on still using backup Miguel Rojas not Jon Berti at SS also. 

They are at least letting their young pitchers start like an All-Star from last year in Sandy Alcantara, Jose Urena who should be back healthy and Caleb Smith to name some. One smart strategy their doing again is signing veteran relievers so they can flip like they did with Sergio Romo last year by signing Brandon Kintzler, Ryan Cook and Brad Boxberger to help out Drew Steckenrider. 

NL West: 

The Dodgers got upset in the playoffs to disrupt their fourth straight year of winning the NL Pennant by the Nationals who went on to win it all, but the reason they keep getting so close to the title is they have the best roster in the whole NL. Their lineup still has the reigning MVP Cody Bellinger (his 2^nd MVP) who should only play LF/RF because they also traded for former MVP Mookie Betts a good defensive CF, have AJ Pollock and Joc Pederson natural born centerfielders plus still have 3B Justin Turner, SS Corey Seager and Max Muncy. 

Their rotation did lose Rich Hill, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Kenta Maeda but still have  Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler plus they brought in Jimmy Nelson and Alex Wood to compete for the fifth spot. They could afford to lose three starters because of the depth of young starters waiting in the wings for a spot like Julio Urias and Ross Stripling to name some. Last year they got Joe Kelly to help out their closer Kenley Jansen but Jansen had a bad year so hopefully he rebounds and they added a few more options to help out in Blake Treinen, AJ Ramos and Adam Kolarek. 

The Diamondbacks shed so much talent from the 2018 roster going into the 2019 it was a surprise they finished second with a winning record and they only improved their team this offseason. After trading their ace Zack Greinke away mid-season they signed one of the best starting pitchers on the market in Madison Bumgarner to lead this rotation that still has Robbie Ray and Luke Weaver They also decided to stop signing overpriced veterans to be their closer and watch it implode quickly by just letting Archie Bradley be the closer all year and signed Hector Rondon to be their setup man. 

2B Ketel Marte their best player spent time going back and forth between centerfield and second base because they didn’t have a real answer for AJ Pollock leaving last year so they solidified it by trading for CF Starling Marte. They also signed Kole Calhoun to solidify the hole in RF to form a top starting outfield and signed Stephen Vogt to split time at catcher.

The Giants in manager Bruce Bochy’s last year finished eight games back from 2^nd place/4 games below .500 so they will just be average this year because they did lose their ace, their starting centerfielder, their backup catcher and four of their key relievers from last year. They are going with a patch work rotation that includes Jeff Samardzija, a full season of Johnny Cueto after TJ surgery, rejects Drew Smyly, Trevor Cahill and Kevin Gausman. 

They also will go with another patch work outfield that consists of Billy Hamilton, Hunter Pence returning but was a DH last year, Alex Dickerson, Mike Yastrzemski, Steven Duggar and Joey Rickard. They still have a good infield of C Buster Posey, 3B Evan Longoria, SS Brandon Crawford and 1B Brandon Belt but 2B is the question mark. They will try Mauricio Dubon, Wilmer Flores, Yolmer Sanchez and Donovan Solano at 2B. Their bullpen will be patchwork after losing all of those important guys the only guy left is Tony Watson that people heard of. 

The Padres have finished two years in a row in last place but last year it was a difference of one game and they actually have a future with this roster that has 3B Manny Machado, SS Fernando Tatis, 1B Eric Hosmer, RF Wil Myers and newly acquired outfielder Tommy Pham. They traded Franmil Reyes at the deadline last year, they traded both Hunter Renfroe and Manuel Margot to the Rays away which means by getting Pham he could fill the hole they had in CF or it could be Francy Cordeo’s opportunity as the last man left standing but really it means no dumb idea of Myers in CF. They traded away Luis Urias who is a young up and coming player to go with their offseason acquisition of Jurickson Profar to fill second base after the failed Ian Kinsler experiment last year. 

Their strength again will be their bullpen because of Kirby Yates who led the NL in saves last year, they resigned Craig Stammen and brought in Drew Pomeranz who is now a good reliever. The rotation again will be a question mark because of the inexperience of most of their starters and the health of Garrett Richards who is coming off TJ surgery and Zach Davies. 

There is really no way to gauge the Rockies who made the playoffs two straight years but almost finished in last place last season and wanted to trade their best player after signing him to a huge extension. 3B Nolan Arenado is still there to lead this team on both sides along with SS Trevor Story and OF Charlie Blackmon but again their outfield alignment is going to be out of whack. Blackmon the former CF will again play RF like last year but last year they had Ian Desmond in CF then scrapped the idea mid-season and will play David Dahl in CF where he shouldn’t be that’s where Raimel Tapia should be or Blackmon. They also still haven’t figured out who is going to play second base after having a revolving door last year that should have been filled by Daniel Murphy who is at 1B and after cutting their longest tenured catcher in their history in Chris Iannetta they did nothing to fix it either. 

Their rotation is still thin even if they have six or more potential starters but none really stick out besides Jon Gray who has been disappointing or German Marquez. Their bullpen will again have to carry them because they still have Wade Davis, Jack McGee, Bryan Shaw and Scott Oberg.